Darkwing Duck

I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the stone that gets stuck in the shoe of evil! I am Darkwing Duck!

The above is an episode titled "Dry Hard", which reveals the origins of the Liquidator. This was the only episode to star the Liquidator. It's hard to say why they didn't have more episodes starring him.

Ah Darkwing Duck(surprised we don't already have a topic about the series). Easily one of the best animated series from the Disney Afternoon, a mix of humor and action, and witty dialogue.

As for the liquidator, well he's just too powerful of an antagonist. He'd end up overshadowing many of the other villains when they teamed up.

That and it was also too hard to think of more then one way to beat the guy as well. (They also said it was hard to write for the guy due to how he talked.)

From what I hear, the reason they didn't feature him more is because his dialogue was so difficult to write.

He doesn't even headline in the BOOM series, either. He's got bit appearances there as well.

Anyway, this show was awesome, and I still consider it the pinnacle of what Disney's television animation was capable of in terms of characterization, humor and tone. DW and Gosalyn's relationship was so well done, and the semi-parody, lampshadey but still totally played unflinchingly straight way the adventures were were so fun.

This was one of my favorite Disney afternoon shows, too. Not much that I can add that isn't already said in the character's TV Tropes page. Except maybe that I always suspected he was based on The Sandman (the ORIGINAL character, not Neil Gaiman's version.) Similar costume, same gimmicks (gas gun etc.) Though of course they used him to parody many other characters (Batman, Spider-Man, Normalman, etc.) My favorite episodes are the one homaging The Dark Knight Returns (as it shows how much he loved his daughter, Gosalyn) and the ones with Nega-Duck (best Evil Twin/Evil Counterpart ever!)

edited 7th Oct '12 6:33:54 PM by Sijo

I'm pretty sure Gaiman's character sometimes referred to as The Sandman as a reference to this guy, not Wesley Dodds.

edited 7th Oct '12 8:35:29 PM by Tanrage

Gaiman created his character for DC because DC didn't want to lose the rights to the name Sandman after the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot; they just gave him leeway to do it anyway he wanted so he just created a whole new character (indirectly connected to Dodds) and went his own merry way afterwards. Or at least that's how I have heard it went.

In any case, *I* am talking about Dodds here, and I'm pretty sure it was him whom the Disney people were homaging too.

The "trenchcoat and gas-gun" variety of costumed adventurer was originated with the radio version of the Green Hornet (even though I'm not sure if he wore/used either), who inspired first DC's own Crimson Avenger (who originally was almost an exact copy) and DC's first Sandman character (Gaiman's Sandman is, of course, directly tied to the figure from European folklore and tangentially tied to the Wes Dodds Sandman, as referenced in Gaiman's first Sandman story).

I imagine the folks at Disney were more inspired by the Green Hornet, who is better known to the general public (but only just) than either the Crimson Avenger or DC's original Sandman. Then again, they did use the name Crimson Avenger in a couple of episodes of the Gummi Bears (but that could just be a coincidence).

The people who did Darkwing Duck showed an enormous knowledge of comic books, and there were just too many references in the series (where else would you find a *whole* episode dedicated to the obscure comic series Normalman, for example?) for them to not be intentional periphery demographic appeal. So, while I haven't actually read it anywhere, I'm pretty sure they had to be aware they were basing their character on the original Sandman (especially since that character was still active in the 80s, if hardly ever seen.)

edited 7th Oct '12 10:47:54 PM by Sijo

My favorite episode is Bushroot's origin. It was probably the darkest thing I saw on television as a kid.

Oh, this one?

It's scary how Bushroot (interesting how "bush" seems to be more like "hush" than "bush") actually committed murder on two former colleagues (even if they were unmitigated Jerkasses), tried to turn a female colleague into a plant-duck against her will, and he still has our sympathy! Maybe it "stems" from him being a Jerkass Woobie!

I guess it's partly because we already know his backstory. When I first watched the episode, I actually kind of wanted her to be turned into a plant duck(sick of me I know) since because of my sympathy. Darkwing comes off as his typical self, and he's really more of the hero antagonist of the story.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't there 2 completely different Negaducks? One (who showed up on the Saturday morning series, and I think only there) who seemed to be an enormously powerful energy being and another (from the weekday series) who was a evil version of Darkwing from the Negaverse, which also had good versions of all of Darkwing's nemeses? Did the ever try to reconcile the two?

Oh, and on the Sandman thing: Of course, it's possible that Darkwing was at least partially insipired by the Sandman. But the resemblance between Darkwing and Sandman is pretty superficial, and to be honest, Darkwing bears the same superficial resemblance to the Green Hornet (and the Crimson Avenger, for that matter). And we've both been forgetting The Shadow, who he bears even a stronger resemblance to, as well as mimicking the Shadow's "Who know's what evil lurks in the hearts of men" bit with his "I am the terror that flaps in the night."

edited 8th Oct '12 10:52:37 AM by Robbery

There is the Negaverse Negaduck, who is the one that became Darkwing's archenemy, and then there's the (even more hilarious, in my opinion) Negatron Negaduck who was part of DW and thus disappeared after an episode.

There was apparently an episode planned where Negaverse Negaduck and Darkwing teamed up against Negatron Negaduck, but it never came to fruition.

I believe the two Negaducks are always meant to be completely different characters.

Funny how one of the show's darkest characters is a sympathetic Anti-Villain.

I remembered being scared witless of this ep. Onscreen cold-blooded murder is not something you'd expect from a Disney cartoon featuring Funny Animals.

edited 8th Oct '12 12:02:34 PM by Nightwire

Yeah, there were two completely different Negaducks.

The clip shows Negaduck I's first and only appearance. Negaduck II is from an alternative universe. I've heard that there was going to be a team-up of I and II (or maybe I got it wrong), but the idea got scrapped.

edited 8th Oct '12 12:05:44 PM by TiggersAreGreat

Apparently it was going to happen in a planned third season, but then the series was cancelled.

It's a shame this series has such awful luck. Even when it got the excellent Boom Comics revival, petty executive issues got it canned, and why? Marvel has the Disney comics license right now, but it's doing nothing with it but sitting on it letting it rot. And we lost great comics for that. It just drives me mad...

Didn't I just way that?

Anyways, this show always hinted more on the side of darkness than most other Disney shows did, and it was really endearing in it's way. I was binging it a few years ago and it hit me that stuff like Negaduck threatening people with a shotgun or a chainsaw was hilariously over the top, but definitely not what you would expect from Disney - at least not in their television animation.

The show used lampooned edginess as part of its humor style, something that Disney only occasionally catches up to when it comes to television (their shorts and their comics, on the other hand...).

As for my favorite episodes, it's gotta be a three way tie between "Just Us Justice Ducks Part 2," "Stressed to Kill," and "The Quiverwing Quack."

Well, you said it had been planned, but you didn't mention it was going to be in a third season.

I recall, I think from one of the "Just-Us Ducks" episodes, an exchange in which Darkwing is trying to get into Negaduck's HQ :

Darkwing (disguising his voice over an intercom) "Flowers for Negaduck."

Negaduck: (obviosuly irritated) Flowers?

Darkwing "Oh, did I say flowers? I meant skulls! Skulls for Negaduck!"

Negaduck's eyes get a faraway look and he licks his lips. He buzzes Darkwing in.

Delightfully warped.

edited 8th Oct '12 1:24:35 PM by Robbery

To say nothing of the possibility of finally continuing Gargoyles. But for Darkwing Duck, I want Marvel to do a DW/616 crossover - there's already a Duckworld included among many of Marvel's alternate universes, and Marvel employs people like Frank Cho who are able to effortlessly draw in both standard superhero and Barks-esque cartoon styles. Just imagine it!

I always thought the Boom series should've been a first step to that - a story with Darkwing and Scrooge written in the kind of epic adventure style of Don Rosa would be completely awesome.

Too bad the other facets of Disney's creative efforts (or even Disney in general) doesn't really care about referencing their television exploits.

Oh, yeah...here's the first episode of Darkwing Duck with part one:

And part two, since I can't embed more than one You Tube video in one post:

If Taurus Bulba had appeared later on instead of at the very beginning, I bet he could have qualified as a Knight of Cerebus. Still, even the other villains just don't reach his level!